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From: Mayayana on 7 May 2010 08:55
| Have a look at
|
| http://www.visualbasicscript.com/

I sometimes get incoming links to my site from
that website, but it has many of the problems
that the MS forums have, any one of which makes
it unusable in my mind:

1) It's private/commercial. They moderate it. They
have rules. They can change the rules. They claim
to own your post.

2) It requires javascript.

3) It's a web forum. :) That whole idea just doesn't
make any sense. It's simply the wrong format for
the job. (Not to mention the juvenile aspects like
"avatars" and hierarchical status awards. The general
design is geared toward teenagers, not adults.)


From: Paul Randall on 7 May 2010 09:52

"Bob Barrows" <reb01501(a)NOyahoo.SPAMcom> wrote in message
news:%235mZqsd7KHA.5644(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Paul Randall wrote:
>> <nntp(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:OKJDWk$6KHA.5476(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> Date 5/4/2010
>>> Starting in early summer 2010, Microsoft will begin progressively
>>> closing down the Microsoft public newsgroups to enrich conversations
>>> in the rapidly-growing forum platform. This decision is in response
>>> to worldwide market trends and evolving customer needs.
>>>
>>> Microsoft continues to invest in forums to reduce customer effort,
>>> consolidate community venues and make it easier for active
>>> contributors to retain their influence. Forums provide a healthy
>>> community environment with less spam and make answers easier to find
>>> by customers and search engines. Additionally, forums offer a
>>> better user and off-topic management platform that will improve
>>> customer satisfaction by facilitating discussions in a clean space.
>>>
>>> We understand that some newsgroups are still active, and important
>>> to the community. In the coming days and weeks, we will be rolling
>>> out tools and resources to minimize disruption to the community
>>> discussions. We are working diligently on providing additional resources
>>> and
>>> information in local languages later this week. In the meantime,
>>> please refer to the official Microsoft Newsgroup website
>>> http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/default.mspx
>>> concerning this issue. The Microsoft Newsgroup website will be made
>>> available in additional languages in the next few days.
>>
>> The link above contains the following Q & A:
>> Q: How will I know if a newsgroup that I am active in is closing?
>>
>> A: Microsoft will post notice in impacted newsgroups well in advance
>> of the close date in order to give newsgroup participants ample
>> notice. Newsgroup users will be directed to the equivalent forum for
>> further participation in Microsoft's online communities.
>>
>> I assume the OPs post was the "notice ... well in advance of the
>> close date ..." for microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript
>>
>> When does the "Newsgroup users will be directed to the equivalent
>> forum" thing happen for microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript? Or is
>> it possible that we have not been directed to the equivalent forum
>> because there will be none?
>>
> This appears to be the place:
> http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ITCG/threads

Maybe Microsoft will continue the old scripting groups as forums.
If you go here:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/list/en-us/default.aspx
you can go to all the old scriping newsgroups; maybe they will be continued
here.

microsoft.public.scripting.debugger
microsoft.public.scripting.hosting
microsoft.public.scripting.jscript
microsoft.public.scripting.remote
microsoft.public.scripting.scriptlets
microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript
microsoft.public.scripting.virus.discussion
microsoft.public.scripting.wsh

I dislike the layout that leaves only a small portion of the screen for the
message content on a 1024 by 768 screen. The last time I checked, the "Live
ID" agreement gave Microsoft way too many rights and the user essentially
only one right - to not participate.

-Paul Randall


From: Bob Barrows on 7 May 2010 11:05
Paul Randall wrote:
> "Bob Barrows" <reb01501(a)NOyahoo.SPAMcom> wrote in message
>>> When does the "Newsgroup users will be directed to the equivalent
>>> forum" thing happen for microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript? Or is
>>> it possible that we have not been directed to the equivalent forum
>>> because there will be none?
>>>
>> This appears to be the place:
>> http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ITCG/threads
>
> Maybe Microsoft will continue the old scripting groups as forums.
> If you go here:
> http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/list/en-us/default.aspx
> you can go to all the old scriping newsgroups; maybe they will be
> continued here.
>
> microsoft.public.scripting.debugger
> microsoft.public.scripting.hosting
> microsoft.public.scripting.jscript
> microsoft.public.scripting.remote
> microsoft.public.scripting.scriptlets
> microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript
> microsoft.public.scripting.virus.discussion
> microsoft.public.scripting.wsh
>
> I dislike the layout that leaves only a small portion of the screen
> for the message content on a 1024 by 768 screen. The last time I
> checked, the "Live ID" agreement gave Microsoft way too many rights
> and the user essentially only one right - to not participate.
>
I can't really argue with any of that.

--
Microsoft MVP - ASP/ASP.NET - 2004-2007
Please reply to the newsgroup. This email account is my spam trap so I
don't check it very often. If you must reply off-line, then remove the
"NO SPAM"


From: Al Dunbar on 9 May 2010 12:57


"Paul Randall" <paulr901(a)cableone.net> wrote in message
news:OT34h0e7KHA.5412(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
> "Bob Barrows" <reb01501(a)NOyahoo.SPAMcom> wrote in message
> news:%235mZqsd7KHA.5644(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Paul Randall wrote:
>>> <nntp(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message
>>> news:OKJDWk$6KHA.5476(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>> Date 5/4/2010
>>>> Starting in early summer 2010, Microsoft will begin progressively
>>>> closing down the Microsoft public newsgroups to enrich conversations
>>>> in the rapidly-growing forum platform. This decision is in response
>>>> to worldwide market trends and evolving customer needs.
>>>>
>>>> Microsoft continues to invest in forums to reduce customer effort,
>>>> consolidate community venues and make it easier for active
>>>> contributors to retain their influence. Forums provide a healthy
>>>> community environment with less spam and make answers easier to find
>>>> by customers and search engines. Additionally, forums offer a
>>>> better user and off-topic management platform that will improve
>>>> customer satisfaction by facilitating discussions in a clean space.
>>>>
>>>> We understand that some newsgroups are still active, and important
>>>> to the community. In the coming days and weeks, we will be rolling
>>>> out tools and resources to minimize disruption to the community
>>>> discussions. We are working diligently on providing additional
>>>> resources and
>>>> information in local languages later this week. In the meantime,
>>>> please refer to the official Microsoft Newsgroup website
>>>> http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/default.mspx
>>>> concerning this issue. The Microsoft Newsgroup website will be made
>>>> available in additional languages in the next few days.
>>>
>>> The link above contains the following Q & A:
>>> Q: How will I know if a newsgroup that I am active in is closing?
>>>
>>> A: Microsoft will post notice in impacted newsgroups well in advance
>>> of the close date in order to give newsgroup participants ample
>>> notice. Newsgroup users will be directed to the equivalent forum for
>>> further participation in Microsoft's online communities.
>>>
>>> I assume the OPs post was the "notice ... well in advance of the
>>> close date ..." for microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript
>>>
>>> When does the "Newsgroup users will be directed to the equivalent
>>> forum" thing happen for microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript? Or is
>>> it possible that we have not been directed to the equivalent forum
>>> because there will be none?
>>>
>> This appears to be the place:
>> http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ITCG/threads
>
> Maybe Microsoft will continue the old scripting groups as forums.
> If you go here:
> http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/list/en-us/default.aspx
> you can go to all the old scriping newsgroups; maybe they will be
> continued here.
>
> microsoft.public.scripting.debugger
> microsoft.public.scripting.hosting
> microsoft.public.scripting.jscript
> microsoft.public.scripting.remote
> microsoft.public.scripting.scriptlets
> microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript
> microsoft.public.scripting.virus.discussion
> microsoft.public.scripting.wsh
>
> I dislike the layout that leaves only a small portion of the screen for
> the message content on a 1024 by 768 screen. The last time I checked, the
> "Live ID" agreement gave Microsoft way too many rights and the user
> essentially only one right - to not participate.

I tried going to the vbscript newsgroup that way only to find this message:

Service Temporarily Unavailable
We apologize for this inconvenience. Please try again later.

It seems to me that those "groups as forums" simply present a web-based
interface to the underlying newsgroups. I rather expect that MS will be
taking down the whole thing so there will no longer be this newsgroup back
end, and I doubt they are going to create a searchable archive of
information extracted from the groups. Given their statement that the
traffic is down in the newsgroups, why would they do anything to perpetuate
them once they have cut them adrift? And how confusing for their http-only
customers who would now have two places to look for information, and no way
to interact with the newsgroups.

/Al


From: Mayayana on 9 May 2010 13:51
| It seems to me that those "groups as forums" simply present a web-based
| interface to the underlying newsgroups. I rather expect that MS will be
| taking down the whole thing so there will no longer be this newsgroup back
| end

Yes, the http://www.microsoft.com/communities....
URLs are just webpage versions of the newsgroups.

I think the message is that only
http://social.technet.microsoft.com....
will remain.

Paul Randall's link is especially discouraging. Not
only is script being moved to a moderated web forum,
but it appears that *all* script topics will be in a
single group, moderated by those cloying Scripting
Guys. ("Hey kids, let's have some scripting fun!"
"Please help us welcome our new moderator! There'll
be milk and cookies in the lobby!")

It's already clear in the current posts that most
people are ignoring the request to specify the tool
or language they're asking about. So the whole thing
has just been reduced to a bad joke. If I didn't know
better I'd think that MS was going out of business.

What I think they're really doing is working on a
gradual process of defining Windows programming
as something done by Microsoft employees and
partners. The new forums are not a place for
programmers and admins to discuss. They're a place
for Microsoft customers to ask "user" questions and
interact with the Microsoft marketing machine.

People who want to program can sign up, get a
Windows Live ID, and write "app" trinkets in managed
code....like Apple programmers do.

There's a current discussion in the VB group about
moving en masse back to the existing comp.* groups.
But I don't think there's such a thing as comp.*.vbscript.




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